starting anew

I have been become somewhat obsessed with the show The Biggest Loser. I used to make fun of people (like Adam Hilderbrandt) who watched it religiously. The idea of looking at overweight people cry, sweat and stand on a scale in something pretty close to underwear (frankly, I have some under garments that cover just as much if not more that what they are wearing) just is not my idea of a good hour or two. If they were "holy underwear" I would totally have watched. So shiny.

But this Advent I have spent a good bit of time catching pun on the Biggest Loser. Like I watched 3 episodes of Season 12 yesterday. We (I have sucked Jim and Hannah in, too) have also watched Season 13 during Advent as well. I have watched a lot of people prove that you get emotional when you are hungry. I have also watched a lot of people prove the point that if you want to make a change, you don't need to wait until a certain date to come…like January 1st…to make that change.

I can't tell you how many times I have this past week I have heard someone say, "…in the coming year, I am going to…" and most of the time the rest of the sentence has to do with eating better and eating less sugar. It's kind of like I am going to rehab tomorrow. That worked out well for Amy Winehouse by the way.

Here are my thoughts on that:

* it's nice to have a easy to remember start date to mark a change, but is it that much harder to remember December 30th than January 1st. come on, people.

* in Vedanta, they understand reincarnation to happen every moment. Every moment, you are born again. Every moment, you get a chance to start again. Every moment, you get to choose to be a new person. Every moment is the moment to become better. So, wait?

* remember that story of the man who was going to follow Jesus, but decided that he had a bunch of other stuff to do first and Jesus said you go right ahead and walked away (New Living Tara Paraphrase). we think that guy is all jacked up with the wrong priorities…there you go.

why I shave my legs for Jesus

Early in my ministry, I started a Saturday evening ritual called “shaving my legs for Jesus”.  The name pretty much describes it accurately. Every Saturday night, I would draw a bath and go through the painstaking process of shaving my legs. I know that people all over the world do this on a daily basis, some even awkwardly balancing themselves as they stand in a shower stall to do so, and they do this without thinking much about it and never realizing its theological significance. But stick with me, there is some. 

Now here’s the obvious question: does Jesus care if my legs are stubbly? I don’t think so. I have never heard the still quiet voice of God whisper to me on Sunday morning, “your legs are smooth—good and faithful servant”.

That’s not why I do it.

I hate shaving. I started doing it because I felt that was part of looking my best for church on Sunday.  As if somehow smooth legs represents a clean heart, a prepared message or a holy demeanor.

But shaved legs represent a cultural preference, not a Biblical mandate. There is no “blessed is she with the smooth legs, for she shall glide smoothly in the waters of Life”. It’s not there. I looked.

So, that is not why I keep this tradition alive. I do it because I hate it.

Yes, I do it because it is no fun. It is time consuming. It can be painful if you don’t pay attention or if you don’t use the right cream. It can burn when you are finished if you put the wrong things on too soon.

Sometimes ministry, whether it is ordained or lay, calls us to do things that we do not like: to go where we are sent, to stay when we want to leave, to talk to people unlike us, to show grace when we are angry, to be peaceful in situations of unrest. So every week, I do this thing that I don’t like because it reminds me that God calls each of us, including me, to do things that we don’t want to do. Obedience is often not convenient. It’s often not comfortable. So, every week, at least once, I remind myself that it is not about me. That’s it about a God who made himself more than uncomfortable for me.

  

what else?

last june i turned 39.

since then, i have made some changes in my life. i am not sure how many of them are a result of turning 39 or maybe starting to feel a little more mature (read as "old"). i don't think that the number in the age bothers me.  the fact that the North Georgia Conference of the UMC keeps raising the age in which one is considered a young adult helps. when i turned 35, i was at the upper crust of that, and then the next year it was changed to 36... and somehow when I was 38 the upper age was 40. it was kind of fishy how they kept raising it and then they decided that you could self-classify and if anyone can be a young adult then that moniker is useless. so, whatever. i am whatever age i am, and i will never self classify myself as something that i don't feel i am. so, i am no longer a young adult.

anyway, if you are wondering what changes I have made, here they are:

* became a pescetarian.  well, until i ate that bacon on 12.27. but it was so good and it was at cracker barrel on road trip so it totally shouldn't count. the bacon I made on Monday we won't talk about
* starting shaving my legs more than once a week
* started running (an exaggeration of what i do)
* started jazzercise (now work out 4-5 days a week--not all jazzercise)
* signed up for boot camp (for April)
* also signed up for a half marathon (the wine and dine at disney-though clearly the title wooed me on this one)
* bought a pair of spanx tights
* started washing my face (a couple times a week)
* started liking and cooking brussel sprouts and cauliflower
* i attempted to add mouthwash but it gave me sores
* and today, i put moisturizer on my face for the first time that it wasn't sunburned.

it's this last thing that really makes me feel my age. like i am a woman now or something...

and reminds how i can no longer care for my body like i am 12. sigh.

so, i wonder...what other tips do you have for me?
are there things that you have added that you think i would benefit from adding to my life? like more bacon. or girl scout cookies. let me know. because apparently, i am not open to doing new things.